The custom of decorating trees is inseparably associated with the Christmas holiday in many parts of the world, but it is also a feature of secular New Year's celebrations in certain countries in which the observance of the Christmas holiday is not widespread or is not officially sanctioned. Whatever the occasion, evergreen trees of dense foliage, including such North American varieties commonly known as Balsam Fir and Spruce, have historically been preferred for decoration. Such trees naturally conform to a tapering or conical shape and it is this shape that is symbolic of the traditional holiday tree.
Decorated trees in every imaginable variety of artificial material have long been employed, especially in public displays of the sort featured by merchants during the Christmas shopping season.
Many artificial trees are designed to be dismantled so that they may be stored in comparatively compact containers. An example of such a collapsible tree is found in W. Wurts U.S. Pat. No. 1,590,220, issued Jun. 29, 1926, in the form of a vertical post upon which are supported a plurality of arms or branches.
Another type of collapsible tree incorporates a plurality of concentric rings of varying diameter to create the conical tree shape. This type is represented by T. Modlarz U.S. Pat. No. 1,654,427, issued Dec. 27, 1927, and T. Marks et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,617, issued Sep. 19, 1972. The rings of Modlarz are supported by a plurality of removable arms, whereas the rings of Marks et al. are supported by four generally vertical wire members.
A further example of an artificial tree is disclosed in S. I. Spiegel U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,605, issued Mar. 7, 1972, and comprises a basketlike framework for supporting branches and ornaments. However, this configuration is not collapsible. Indeed, none of the artificial trees known from the references identified hereinabove are easily collapsed or assembled and none are collapsed telescopically.